US F-16 fighter jet shoots down airborne object flying over Michigan airspace

United States on Sunday shot down ar unidentified airborne object in its air, a day after it brought down a similar "cylindrical" object over Canada.

An F-16 fighter jet, at direction of President Joe Biden, fired an AIM9x to successfully shoot down airborne object flying at approximately 20,000 feet altitude in US air over Lake Huron in State of Michigan, Pentagon Press Secretary Brig Gen Pat Ryder said.

After shooting down of a Chinese surveillance balloon in Atlantic Ocean, off coast of South Carolina last Saturday, this is third such shooting down of an unidentified airborne object in a week. previous two were shot down by US fighter jets in Alaska on Friday and one over Canadian air on Saturday.

Unlike first balloon, which US says is from China, origin of rest of three has t been disclosed yet by US and Canadian authorities.

Biden ordered shooting down of airborne object on Sunday at recommendation of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Its path and altitude raised concerns, including that it could be a hazard to civil aviation.

location chosen for this shootdown afforded opportunity to avoid impact on people on ground while improving chances for debris recovery, Pentagon official said.

"re are indications of any civilians hurt or orwise affected," he ted.

rth American Aero Defense Command maintained a visual and radar track on object after detecting it Sunday morning.

"Based on its flight path and data we can reasonably connect this object to radar signal picked up over Montana, which flew in proximity to sensitive DOD sites. We did t assess it to be a kinetic military threat to anything on ground, but assess it was a safety flight hazard and a threat due to its potential surveillance capabilities. Our team will w work to recover object in an effort to learn more," Ryder said.